Afterlives of the Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat

This book investigates adaptations of The Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat in Victorian and post-Victorian popular culture to explore their engagement with medievalism, social constructions of gender, and representations of the role of art in society. Although the figure of Elaine first appeared in medieval texts, including Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Tennyson's poems about the Lady and Elaine drew unprecedented response from musicians, artists, and other authors, whose adaptations in some cases inspired further adaptations. With chapters on music, art, and literature (including parody, young people's literature, and historical fiction and fantasy), this book seeks to trace the evolution of these characters and the ways in which they reinforce or challenge conventional gender roles, represent the present's relationship to the past, and highlight the power of art.

Auteur

Ann F. Howey is Associate Professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, where she researches and teaches in the areas of Arthurian popular culture, young people's literature, and speculative fiction, with a special interest in adaptation and medievalism. She has previously published Rewriting the Women of Camelot (2001) and co-authored, with Stephen R. Reimer, A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana 1500-2000 (2006).

Contenu

1. Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 The Topic

1.2 Death and the Maiden

1.3 King Arthur Returns

1.4 Medievalism(s), Neomedievalism

1.5 Adaptation and Allusion

1.6 Texts and Trends

1.7 Afterlives

1.8 Notes

1.9 References

2. Chapter 2 The Lady and Elaine: Medieval Literature and Victorian Adaptation

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Before Tennyson 2.3 Tennyson's Lady, Tennyson's Elaine

2.4 Responses

2.5 Notes

2.6 References

3. Chapter 3 Singing Her Own Song: The Lady/Elaine in Music

3.1 Introduction

3.2 The Lady and Elaine in Music

3.3 Nineteenth-Century Music: Material Conditions and Interpretations

3.3.1 Sweet is True Love

3.4 Twentieth-Century Music: Material Conditions and Interpretations

3.4.1 Adapting the Lady to music

3.4.2 Speaking for her own self

3.5 The Power of the Voice

3.6 Notes

3.7 References

4. Chapter 4 She hath a lovely face: The Lady/Elaine in Art

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The Victorian Context

4.3 Who hath seen her . . .?

4.4 Book Illustrations 4.4.1 Doré

4.4.2 Cameron

4.4.3 Rhead

4.5 Paintings

4.5.1 Rosenthal's Elaine (1874)

4.5.2 Hunt's Lady

4.5.3 Waterhouse's Ladies (1888, 1894, 1915)

4.6 Out flew the web . . .: The Lady/Elaine Online

4.7 Another Kind of Lady

4.8 The Power of the Image 4.9 Notes

4.10 References

5. Chapter 5 Patterns and Parody: The Lady/Elaine in Literature 5.1 Introduction

5.2 Patterns

5.2.1 Conflation of Lady/Elaine

5.2.2 Non-Arthurian Intertexts

5.2.3 Strategies of Adaptation

5.2.4 Images: Tower (entrapment and isolation)

5.2.5 Images: Mirror (reality and self)

5.2.6 Images: Weaving/Embroidery (creativity and art)

5.2.7 Images: Lancelot (life-altering desire, loss, and rejection) &n...